Grantham court: 90-year-old faces historic sexual offences charges

Three men, one aged 90, appeared before magistrates charged with historic sexual offences in Grantham.

James Wharton, 90, of College Street in Grantham is charged with two counts of rape of a female under the age of 16 and six counts of indecent assault of a girl under the age of 16. All of the charges are alleged to have taken place in Grantham in the 1970s.

Paul Wharton, 55, of Dysart Road in Grantham is also charged with two counts of rape of a female under the age of 16 and five counts of indecent assault of a girl under the age of 16. All of the charges are alleged to have taken place in Grantham in the 1970s.

Martin Eley, 53, of Welbeck Avenue in Newark faces 15 charges; four charges of raping a female under the age of 16, two charges of gross indecency with a girl under the age of 14, five charges of indecent assault of a girl under the age of 14, three charges of indecent assault of a girl under the age of 16 and one charge of possessing an extreme pornographic image. All of the charges except for the pornographic image are alleged to have taken place in Grantham in the 1970s and 1980s.

All three of the men have yet to enter a plea to any of the charges. They will next appear at Lincoln Crown Court on June 17.

They were each bailed with the condition they do not have unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 16 and do not contact certain named individuals.